When Flu Bugs Attack
by kdibs227cheerleader
Summary: It just figured that one of them would get the flu while the other three were gone. Beast Boy gets the flu. Robin takes care of him.


There's something nice about having the tower all to yourself. Sure, it was still nice with people in it, but Robin had learned pretty quick that getting that peace and quiet was only achieved if all his teammates were asleep or out. Now, don't get him wrong, Robin loved his team. But there was only so much he could take before his patience level went down and his bullshit meter rose.

At least, that's the way Raven put it;she was the only other person in the tower who had both meters. As far as he was concerned they didn't exist in Starfire or Beast Boy. So, while getting up and wandering around the main floor at one in the morning wasn't something 'normal' people would do, Robin didn't mind it and often looked forward to his alone time.

It was only him and Beast Boy, at least until Monday when Star and Raven got back, and Cyborg was doing something for Titans East. Robin was busy doing file work, reading up on the recent police reports that no one knew he had access to, and drinking a cup of coffee.

When the clock got around to letting him know it was four o'clock-literally, because Cyborg had programmed the darn thing to shout the hour in a blaring, high pitched voice-Robin decided it was time to call it a night. Or morning. Oh, who cared? He was getting sleep, despite Cyborg's accusations, and he always managed to get the allotted eight hours.

Somewhere between five and six, he wasn't sure because he didn't want to check his clock and he couldn't hear the one downstairs because he put the soundproof barrier on, Robin rolled over wide awake. He figured that he wouldn't be sleeping, not with three cups of coffee in his system, so maybe getting something done to kill time and use up that stored caffeine would be a good idea.

The halls were pretty quiet, which was odd until he remember that it was only him and Beast Boy. The tower was bound to be silent al least until eight, nine at the latest. Robin wasn't too concerned; Beast Boy still couldn't locate the alarm clock that Raven hid in his room, so the others never had to worry about getting him up since the alarm wouldn't stop until he was out of his bed and leaving his room.

So it came as a huge surprise when he nearly collided with the changeling in the hallway. He turned to apologize, which was when he got his first, as he called it, red flag. The smaller boy looked absolutely exhausted. Beast Boy's hair was ruffled, way beyond his usual hairdo, and the dark circles under his eyes indicated that he probably hadn't gotten any sleep. This was odd in itself, since he went to bed somewhere around nine last night.

"Beast Boy, are you ok?" Robin asked quickly. The boy nodded his head, somewhat stiffly, and moved to cross his arms over his stomach.

"'m fine, Rob. Just going to bed." Beast Boy answered, moving to step around the taller boy.

"Going to bed? Now? Beast Boy you went to your room around nine last night. Are you saying you haven't gone to sleep yet?" Robin asked quickly. He was scanning his teammate with a critical eye; he noticed the tense shoulders, the stiff way Beast Boy's arms curled around his stomach, and how he kept his lips together in a tight line.

"Yes, are you testing out your ability to be Sherlock Holmes?" Beast Boy muttered quietly, and made a move to side step Robin. Well, that was unexpected. The changeling was hardly ever snippy, well only if he was angry or overly tired, or in a worse case scenario…

Oh, no. No, this was not happening. Not this weekend, and certainly not when he was the only one here. Robin knew his luck wasn't that great, but he knew it wasn't that horrible either.

Robin, in a move that probably would have earned him a punch to the chest or something, easily grabbed Beast Boy's arm-gently as the boy looked like he could barely stand on his two feet-and pressed his hand to his friend's forehead.

The skin under his hand was burning hot. Robin guided Beast Boy the floor, against his half hearted protests, which was another indicator of just how badly the boy was feeling, and planted himself in front of the green skinned hero. Beast Boy carefully avoided his gaze.

"How long have you been sick?" Robin asked seriously. Beast Boy rolled his eyes and made a move to get up. Robin gently pushed him back to the floor, determined not to let this go. "Beast Boy, answer the question."

"I'm fine, Robin." He said, making another move to get up. Robin sighed and grabbed both of his wrists, locked his eyes on Beast Boy and spoke in a very clear voice.

"You're burning up with a fever. People don't just get a fever for nothing, you know." He said.

"You could if you get a growth spurt." Beast Boy said, trying to get his wrists freed.

"Oh, so you're telling me this is a growth spurt and not you getting sick? Beast Boy, I find that very hard to believe, so I'll make this very clear. Either you tell me why I found you out here looking like death warmed over or I'm getting the others on the phone. And you know how they'll act if I tell them you're sick." Robin explained in a firm tone.

Beast Boy didn't look at him, not for a good minute, until he answered in a quiet voice.

"I just got sick, once, that's all. Now let me go." Beast Boy said in a quiet tone. Robin eyed him up and down. There was no way he was letting Beast Boy go off on his own. He was already having visions of him collapsing somewhere in the tower. He could drag him up to the med bay, but there was a limited amount of things he could do. Cyborg was the one who handled the med bay stuff, and knew it like the back of his hand, and when Cyborg couldn't handle it, Raven took over.

"Got sick? Like, you fainted or threw up, or-" Robin stopped when he saw how fast Beast Boy's face drained of color. He hoisted his friend up, but when Beast Boy made a move, again, to get away, Robin already had him in a secure bridal style hold and was making a beeline for the bathroom. Beast Boy didn't bother protesting; Robin tried not to panic as he felt a few tremors pass through his smaller friend.

By the time he got to the bathroom his brain was working in overdrive. Robin needed to get some basic things down first: take a temperature, get his friend comfortable, figure out just how sick he was, and call Cyborg. He set Beast Boy edge of the tub, ignoring the feeling of eyes burning into the back of his head, and shifted through the medicine cabinet until he found the thermometer hidden behind an old bottle of Advil and a clear bottle of nail polish.

He spun back to face Beast Boy, who was giving him such a pitiful glare it was a wonder Robin didn't start laughing on the spot. He held out the thermometer, and when Beast Boy made no move to take it, he sighed exasperated.

"Beast Boy, please just take it. We can argue later when I know for sure you aren't going to be dropping at the next second." Robin said. The lights in the bathroom were making his friend look so much worse than in the hall. Beast Boy's face was so pale it was almost translucent. Beast Boy shook his head.

"I'm fine, Rob. Just let me go and you can go back to doing whatever it was you were doing." He argued. Robin stood firm; it was a common fact that sick people tended to be a tiny bit more stubborn than usual, but Beast Boy was really pushing his own stubborn meter.

"If you keep insisting you're fine, which you aren't, by the way, put the thermometer in your mouth and you can happily go on your way." Robin negotiated. Beast Boy eyed him warily.

"If I put it in my mouth, you'll let me go?" The pleading tone of voice wasn't hard to miss. It made something twist inside Robin, and he made sure to choose his words carefully before he spoke them.

"If your temperature is normal, I'll let you go, and if it isn't you have to tell me what's going on. Deal?" Robin asked. He probably should have gotten another Titan on the phone; Raven was always good at talking sense into Beast Boy, especially when it came to medical and doctor stuff.

"Fine." Beast Boy flatly as he took the device out of Robin's outstretched hand. After placing it in his mouth, and Robin making sure it was working properly, they both sat to wait. Robin studied his friend carefully; Beast Boy pretending to look extremely interested in the floor tiles. The thermometer beeped and Robin took it out before Beast Boy could react. It read 102.2. Robin looked up sharply.

"Well, you got a nice fever, so start talking." Robin said as he moved to clean the object. Beast Boy just hunched over his knees.

"I told you Robin, I'm not-" He didn't finish his sentence, which had Robin spinning around sharply, dropping the thermometer in the sink, just in time to make sure Beast Boy made it to the toilet in time. The retching didn't abide for a few minutes-two minutes and 13 seconds, not that Robin was counting or anything.

He flushed, made sure Beast Boy was propped up against the side of the tub, and moved to wet a washcloth and get a cup of water and mouthwash from the cabinet. Robin sat himself down in front of Beast Boy, who was breathing heavily with his eyes closed, and gently moved the dampened washcloth around his face. Once he was sure that was done he handed the cup of water to his friend.

"Drink this slowly, okay? Little sips." Robin instructed. Beast Boy didn't say anything, just did what he was told, and when the cup was empty he handed it back to Robin. Robin helped Beast Boy up, handed him the mouthwash, and made sure his hand was on the lower of Beast Boy's back, just in case he fell over. After he was sure he had done everything he could do at the moment he got Beast Boy situated on the floor again.

"Hey," Robin said softly when Beast Boy's eyes began to droop, "I really need you to talk to me, okay? Can you do that for me?"

Beast Boy nodded weakly. Robin was freaking out just the tiniest bit. He was the guy that handled the press, paperwork, and team moral. He never dealt with a caring for someone who was sick.

"When did you start feeling sick?" Robin asked. He pressed his index and pointer finger against Beast Boy's neck, measuring how fast his pulse was.

"Last night. Didn't want you to know." Beast Boy muttered. Robin frowned. He tried to remember how Beast Boy had acted last night; at most, the only odd thing was that he hadn't wanted to stay up late and watch some old reruns on the TV with him, and had refused any sort of junk food before he headed up to his room.

"Why? Beast Boy, I'm not mad that you got sick; I'm upset because you didn't tell me." Robin explained. "How many times have you thrown up?"

"…counting just now, three." Beast Boy said as quietly as he could as he opened his eyes. Robin sighed and moved to get another cup of water. If there was one thing he knew about being sick, you had to keep hydrated. He couldn't risk Beast Boy becoming dehydrated, simply because he didn't want to battle taking him to the hospital, and he was horrible at doing IV's.

"Okay, here's what we're going to do. You're going to stay here for a minute while I get some things, and when I get back you are going to get nice and comfy while trying to get better. Ok?" Robin said while he pushed a few stray green hairs from Beast Boy's clammy forehead. The changeling nodded, and Robin swiftly got to his feet.

He left the bathroom door open; the stuff he needed wasn't far thankfully, and he still wanted to be able to be in earshot if Beast Boy needed him. While he began to sort through the linen closet, he phoned Cyborg. It rang twice before a disgruntled voice spoke through the speakers.

"This had better be a matter of life or death, Robin. Do have any idea what time it is man?" Cyborg pointed out. Crap, he had forgotten that it was only six in the morning. Oh well, if two Titans weren't sleeping why not have a third join the group?

"Um, I'm not sure how to say it so I'll just spit it out and you can tell me what to do." Robin said as quickly as he could while he made his way over to the elevator, and punched the number for the main floor.

"Beast Boy's sick." Robin said as calmly as he could. You could have heard a pin drop on the other side of the phone.

"Are you sure? What happened exactly?" Cyborg asked, and over the line Robin could hear the rustling of sheets in the background.

"Ya, he just threw his cookies less than ten minutes ago and his temperature was at 102.2 last time I checked." Robin said, hoping that Cyborg could be helpful.

"Okay, the main thing is keep him hydrated. If you can get him to eat something light, like crackers or something. There's a few cans of tomato soup in the pantry. If you really need it, there's a saline drip in the med bay. But that's a last resort." Cyborg explained carefully.

The elevator doors opened and Robin sped to the kitchen. "I can do that; I got a couple cups of water into him. I'll trying getting him to eat, but he could barely stand, so I think eating anything is out of the question for now." Robin replied.

He pulled open the fridge door, grabbed two bottles of yellow Gatorade, shut the door, and grabbed the pack of saltines from the basket on top of the microwave. He got a good hold on his load and made his way back to the elevator as quick as he could.

"That's the best we can ask for right now. If things get too bad, let me know and I can be there quick. But keep me posted every hour, okay? And don't worry about the girls; I'll take care of it." Cyborg said, adding a light laugh at the end.

"Thanks, I think finding out he was sick would have gone a lot smoother if Raven was here, but I'll just have to work with what I got for now." Robin chuckled as the doors opened. Robin quickly pushed the button for the floor he had left Beast Boy on, and tried to wait as patiently as he could.

"You'll do fine. Keep me posted, alright, Rob? Take care of my buddy." Cyborg said and once Robin confirmed that he would take care of Beast Boy, the line was cut.

The doors opened and Robin walked as quickly as he could to the bathroom. Beast Boy was more or less curled in a tiny ball on the floor, shivering and grinding his teeth.

Ya, not the picture Robin wanted to see.

He put the crackers and Gatorade bottles on the counter and dropped the blanket and pillow next to Beast Boy. He pressed his hand to the boy's cheek; it was still as hot as before. That didn't comfort Robin in the least.

"Hey, come on. If we're going to be camping out here for a while, we might as well be comfortable. Beast Boy opened one eye, looked at him briefly, and then shut it again.

"Robin, I'm not moving. Besides, the room just stopped spinning and the cold floor is dulling the pounding in my head." Beast Boy ground out. Robin rolled his eyes, and gently maneuvered his friend until he was comfortably settled in-between Robin's legs and lying pretty much against his shoulder. Robin draped the sheet over his shivering friend's shoulders.

"Just get some sleep. I'm not going anywhere." Robin said, hoping it came out in a soothing tone. Beast Boy fidgeted a bit, then settled back down.

"Don't want to sleep," He said thickly. Robin rubbed his back gently.

"Try too," Robin replied kindly, "just try."

It didn't take long until Beast Boy's body began to relax, and by the time Robin had a decent plan set in place, he was out like a light.

**0.o.0**

The next few hours were spent camped out on the bathroom floor. After only a half hour of sleep, the next wave of sickness came, and Robin could only stand by, pretty much useless, and he waited for Beast Boy to finish. He tried though, and he could tell Beast Boy appreciated it, even if Robin was convinced that what he was doing was pretty much no help. Robin kept his vigil, though, and made sure he had a steady stream of water and or Gatorade and mouthwash ready.

By the time noon came around, Beast Boy was beyond tired. It took a lot of dragging out, but Robin figured out that Beast Boy hadn't slept well, or at all, last night and the only sleep he had gotten was when he pretty much passed out on Robin's chest. On the bright side, the throwing up had pretty much stopped, so Robin moved them both down to the common room, and made the couch as comfortable as he could.

He made sure that he kept a trash can handy, however, and situated himself on the couch with Beast Boy's feet in his lap. While the opening scenes to _Monty Python and the Holy Grail_ played, Beast Boy broke Robin out of his thoughts.

"Why do you keep stealing my body parts?" He asked, his voice slurring slightly from sleep deprivation.

"Huh?" Robin asked in return. Beast Boy managed half a smile, and burrowed a bit more into the comforter Robin had draped over him.

"You keep manhandling me. If you keep this up Star might get jealous." It took a minute for Robin to realize that Beast Boy was trying to make a joke. He chuckled lightly, and focused back on the screen.

"Well would you think me to be above taking advantage of a damsel in distress?" Robin joked back. Beast Boy blew air from between his lips and rolled his eyes.

"Please, then everyone would grow concerned with you stealing my virtue."

By the time Robin could breathe properly, King Arthur and his 'horse' Patsy had reached the castle where the annoying French knight was, and Beast Boy was sound asleep.

**0.o.0**

The rest of the night went smoothly, at least up until around two am. Robin had been dosing lightly when Beast Boy leaned quickly over the couch, just making it to the trash can in time. Robin made himself useful by rubbing his back and trying to sound comforting and offer words of encouragement.

After another dose of mouthwash and cup of Gatorade at Robin's insistence, Beast Boy flopped back onto the couch.

"I hate being sick. I'm not supposed to get sick. That freaking doctor in S.T.A.R. labs was an idiot." Beast Boy grumbled. Robin sat at the edge of the couch next to Beast Boy as he forced the thermometer into his mouth.

"When did you see a doctor there?" Robin asked, frowning when the device beeped and showed a temperature of 102.4.

"Before I met up with you," Beast Boy said. "The guy said because of my messed up code I didn't have to worry about getting sick ever again. Bunch of bull that was."

Robin laughed and smoothed back the wild green hair. "Well, he probably was an idiot. Cyborg's really the only one who can figure you out genetically." Beast Boy laughed at that and moved to get comfortable again.

"Ya, and he could run circles around him without breaking a sweat." He said. Robin shook his head and moved the blanket over his shoulders.

"I'm sure. Now think about those happy thoughts while getting some sleep."

**0.o.0**

The remainder of the weekend was spent on the couch, watching movies and making runs to and from the kitchen. Robin finally got some soup into Beast Boy, and in turn was forced to watch the first movie of _The Lord of the Rings_ trilogy. Robin also was fielding calls from Cyborg, who called every hour. The girls also started calling, and more than once he had to put Starfire on speaker phone simply because she refused to believe that Beast Boy was actually doing ok.

By the time Sunday night rolled around, Beast Boy was looking and feeling better. At his insistence, Robin spent an hour in the gym with Beast Boy watching from the bench, because he claimed it was way too weird for the boy wonder to be still for so long.

The fever was gone, the throwing up was done, and by the time the others got home Beast Boy was lightly sparing with Robin.

It wasn't until later that Monday night that Beast Boy caught him in the hall.

"So, I just wanted to say thanks, you know. For taking care of me." Beast Boy said with a small smile. Robin simply smiled back and grabbed his wrist in a playful way.

"No problem. And hey, maybe when I get the flu you can play the part of the doctor." Robin joked.

"Sure, just be careful what you wish for Rob." Beast Boy said cheekily. Robin just smiled and led his green skinned friend down to the common room for movie night.

Everyone said that friends stuck with each other through thick and thin. Robin guessed that the same went for sickness too…especially when he got the flu three months later.

Author's note: I finally finished this story! I've literally had this one sitting in Microsoft Word for over three months. I'm pretty happy with how this one turned out. I like the idea of Robin and Beast Boy having a pretty decent friendship, not at all like the one in the series. So read, review, and enjoy!


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